SB 1387

SB1387:v99#DOCUMENT

Bill Start

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1387

An act to amend Section 212.1 of the Education Code, to add Section 8310.2 to the Government Code, to amend Section 2068 of the Penal Code, and to amend Section 2615 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to state agencies.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1387, as introduced, Stern. State agencies: collection and reporting of demographic data: Jewish identity.

Existing law declares that it is the policy of the state to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of specified characteristics, including race or ethnicity, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state, and states that the purpose of related existing law is to prohibit acts that are contrary to that policy and to provide remedies. Existing law defines “race or ethnicity” to include ancestry, color, ethnic group identification, and ethnic background.

This bill would define ethnicity to include Jewish identity.

Existing law specifies certain requirements relative to state agencies, boards, and commissions that directly or by contract collect demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians, including the requirement to use separate collection categories and tabulations for each major Asian group and each major Pacific Islander group, as specified. Existing law requires these state agencies to include the demographic data in every demographic report on ancestry or ethnic origins of Californians by the state agency published or released on or after July 1, 2012. Existing law further requires these state agencies to make the collected data available to the public pursuant to state and federal law, except for personal identifying information, which existing law deems confidential.

This bill would require a state agency that directly or by contract collects demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use a separate collection category and tabulation for Jewish ancestry or ethnicity, as specified. The bill would require these state agencies to include the demographic data in every demographic report on ancestry or ethnic origins of Californians by the state agency published or released on or after January 1, 2027. The bill would further require these state agencies to make the collected data available to the public pursuant to state and federal law, except for personal identifying information, which the bill would deem confidential.

Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to collect voluntary self-identification information pertaining to race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, including, but not limited to, specified races and ethnic origins. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, based on that voluntary self-identification information, to prepare and publish monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, disaggregated by the same race and ethnicity categories used by the department for the purpose of voluntary self-identification information. Existing law requires the data, except for personally identifying information, which existing law deems confidential, to be publicly available on the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s internet website via the Offender Data Points dashboard.

This bill would include Jewish among those specified races and ethnic origins for self-identification.

Existing law requires the Employment Development Department, in the administration of existing law relating to disability compensation, to collect demographic data for individuals who claim disability benefits or family temporary disability insurance benefits, including race and ethnicity data and sexual orientation and gender identity data, as prescribed. Existing law requires the Employment Development Department to develop and make available online a public-facing dashboard that publishes disaggregated demographic data pertaining to program participation by individuals and is updated on at least a quarterly basis. Existing law requires the Employment Development Department to implement these requirements by July 1, 2026.

This bill would require the Employment Development Department to collect data on Jewish ancestry or ethnicity for these purposes in accordance with specified demographic data collection requirements for state agencies added by the bill.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 212.1 of the Education Code is amended to read:

212.1.

(a) “Race or ethnicity” includes ancestry, color, ethnic group identification, and ethnic background.

(b) “Race” is inclusive of traits associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles.

(c) “Protective hairstyles” includes, but is not limited to, such hairstyles as braids, locs, and twists.

(d) “Ethnicity” is inclusive of Jewish identity.

SEC. 2.

Section 8310.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:

8310.2.

(a) A state agency that directly or by contract collects demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians shall use a separate collection category and tabulation for Jewish ancestry or ethnicity in any provided form that offers respondents the option of selecting one or more ethnic or racial designations.

(b) Except for personal identifying information, which shall be deemed confidential, a state agency shall do both of the following with the data collected pursuant to subdivision (a):

(1) Include the data in every demographic report on ancestry or ethnic origins of Californians by the state agency that is published on or after January 1, 2027.

(2) Make the aggregated data available to the public in accordance with state and federal law, including, but not limited to, by publishing the data on its internet website.

SEC. 3.

Section 2068 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

2068.

(a) The department shall collect voluntary self-identification information pertaining to race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, which shall include, but not be limited to, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Bangladeshi, Black, Cambodian, Chinese, Colombian, Cuban, Fijian, Filipino, Guamanian or Chamorro, Guatemalan, Native Hawaiian, Other Hispanic Not Listed, Hmong, Indian, Indonesian, Jamaican, Japanese, Jewish, Korean, Laotian, Malaysian, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Other, Other Asian Not Listed, Other Pacific Islander Not Listed, Pakistani, Puerto Rican, Salvadorian, Samoan, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Tongan, Unknown, Vietnamese, and White. Based on that voluntary self-identification information, the department shall prepare and publish monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, disaggregated by the same race and ethnicity categories used by the department for the purpose of voluntary self-identification information.

(b) Starting January 1, 2025, the data, except for personally identifying information, which shall be deemed confidential, shall be publicly available on the department’s internet website via the Offender Data Points dashboard.

(c) If the population number of any race or ethnicity category is under 50, the department shall only reference, in the published data, those numbers as “fewer than 50” in order to protect personally identifying information.

SEC. 4.

Section 2615 of the Unemployment Insurance Code is amended to read:

2615.

(a) The department, in the administration of this part, shall collect demographic data for individuals who claim disability benefits under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 2625) or family temporary disability insurance benefits under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 3300), including race and ethnicity data and sexual orientation and gender identity data. The department shall implement the requirements of this section by July 1, 2026.

(b) The department shall collect race and ethnicity data using standardized federal race and ethnicity categories from the federal Office of Management and Budget’s “Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.”

(c) (1) The department shall also collect subgroup data for race and ethnicity subgroups that aggregate to the federal Office of Management and Budget categories.

(2) The department shall collect subgroup data for Hispanic or Latino individuals in a manner that is at least as detailed as that required by the 2011 federal standards for health care surveys, entitled “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Implementation Guidance on Data Collection Standards for Race, Ethnicity, Sex, Primary Language, and Disability Status,” allowing individuals to not only self-identify as Hispanic or Latino but to also self-identify as Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano; Puerto Rican; Cuban; or other Hispanic or Latino origin.

(3) Individuals who choose the residual category “other Hispanic or Latino origin” shall be given the opportunity to specify the group with which they self-identify.

(4) The department shall collect subgroup data for Asian and Pacific Islander individuals in a manner that provides for data reporting that is at least as detailed as that required by paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 8310.5 of the Government Code for Asian and Pacific Islander individuals, allowing individuals to not only self-identify as Asian or Pacific Islander but to also self-identify as a member of one of the Asian or Pacific Islander subgroups specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 8310.5 of the Government Code or to choose a residual category of “other Asian” or “other Pacific Islander.”

(5) Individuals who choose the residual categories “other Asian” or “other Pacific Islander” shall be given the opportunity to specify the group with which they self-identify.

(d) The department shall collect sexual orientation and gender identity data in accordance with Section 8310.8 of the Government Code.

(e) The department shall collect data on Jewish ancestry or ethnicity in accordance with Section 8310.2 of the Government Code.

(e)

(f) The department shall adopt demographic data collection standards, procedures, and processes to implement this section. As the federal Office of Management and Budget’s race and ethnicity categories and standards evolve, the department shall update demographic data collection standards, procedures, and processes in accordance with any new minimum federal Office of Management and Budget race and ethnicity categories or standards, including, but not limited to, those pertaining to Middle Eastern and North African populations and the manner in which race and ethnicity questions are sequenced or combined.

(f)

(g) The department shall develop and make available online a public-facing dashboard that publishes disaggregated demographic data pertaining to program participation by individuals and is updated on at least a quarterly basis. The department shall benchmark that information to relevant demographic population estimates to ascertain whether program enrollment by members of the state’s various demographic groups is consistent with, or departs from, their share of the appropriate estimated population benchmarks. For race and ethnicity demographic data, such benchmarks shall be determined using population estimates for the federal Office of Management and Budget categories initially specified in subdivision (b) and subsequently specified pursuant to subdivision (e). (f). Wherever available, additional benchmarks shall also be used for population estimates for the subgroup categories specified pursuant to subdivision (c).

SEC. 5.

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 2 of this act, which adds Section 8310.2 to the Government Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:

In order to protect the privacy of California residents, while also gathering and publicizing useful demographic data, it is necessary that personal identifying information remain confidential.